Lately, I’ve been craving ice cream. I don’t know if it has something to do with the warmer weather, or hormones. Or my sweet tooth awakening at the same time the flower buds are. Or hormones.
Maybe it’s hormones.
The thing is, my favorite ice cream flavors aren’t exactly the kind you can just pick up from your neighborhood grocery. Unless your neighborhood is in the Philippines. Or any other place in Asia. Or somewhere in the Caribbean.
Or maybe just Chinatown in New York, where you can head to The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and indulge in “regular” flavors like lychee, pandan, taro, or black sesame. (Ironically, their “exotic” flavors include such out-of-this-world entries as … rocky road. And mint chocolate chip. Vanilla, even!)
Of course, I don’t need a plane ticket to head to Chinatown in New York. But in the middle of rush hour, it could very well take just as long to get there. And the parking would cost just as much. Which is unfortunate, because all week, I’ve really been fighting this nagging need for green tea ice cream. And okay, it’s not a new craving at all.
I love green tea ice cream. I could eat it all day. And I probably would, if it didn’t cost $500 per quart. (Okay fine, I exaggerate a bit. But a serving of this probably costs as much as an entire box of Breyer’s when it’s half-price at Shop-Rite.)
I’ve got a number of other ice cream favorites, too. Like avocado. Yeah, I can’t even find that around here. Cheese ice cream? Forget it. Coconut? Just as expensive as green tea. Mango? I’m sorry, but nothing beats the taste of Philippine mango ice cream, so I’m not even going there.
So this is my dilemma. I really, really, really want to make all my favorite flavors of ice cream. But I really, really, really don’t need to be eating that much ice cream.
Still, I really, really, really want to make the ice cream anyway.
And I’m really, really, really going to nag and repeat myself and whine until I finally get me one of those ice cream makers.
Green tea ice cream, I promise you this: soon, you will be mine.
And I don’t care that I’m lactose intolerant. Nope, I don’t care one bit.
How about you? Do you have a favorite ice cream flavor? One that you might drive across town and into the neighboring state to get? And if that drive might be in the general direction of New York City’s Chinatown, would you give me a ride?
You can always use coconut cream to replace dairy cream but the coconut flavour might not work with certain flavours…unless you make something like buko, nata de coco & kaong (are those things available there??).
Get an ice cream maker that’s not so large so that the quantity that you make everytime is limited hehehe.
But yeah — green tea ice cream sounds like a great idea! Off to google a recipe for that now…
Yes, I can get those here. They just require a trip to an Asian supermarket, and the inevitable “my goodness, they’d flip in Manila if they knew how much we had to pay for these here!” But if it means I get to make ube ice cream for myself …
I would love to try green tea ice cream. I’ve never tried it. This looks fantastic. My favorite flavor depends on the weather and my mood. For example, when I was in Italy, I craved gelato al limone. However, I normally crave chocolate-based ice creams. I think I would go crazy over this green tea ice cream, though.
Memoria, green tea ice cream is absolutely delicious. It’s my son’s favorite, and he’s usually a cookies and cream kind of guy. You should try it!
I just went to the PI and brought back a ton of the local fruit “essences and flavorings.” I also did a bit of research and the “dirty” ice cream back home always includes a little bit of coconut milk. I got a score on a cuisinart ice cream maker at marshall’s— you should check it out. It’s the most perfect thing in the world. I made fresh mango/jackfruit ice cream the moment I lost my jetlagginess.
Ugh. Mango and jackfruit. You’re giving me serious tropical ice cream cravings here. I loved those “dirty ice cream” carts! I really want to try my hand at making the cheese flavor. I’ll definitely try using the coconut milk. Thanks for the tip!
No prob =). Cheese ice cream is definitely next on my list too. Mitchell’s in San Francisco has an ice cream flavor called Tropical trio, I believe, and it has guava, mango, pineapple and banana. This is next on my ice cream flavors to-do-list.
I’ve never had green tea ice cream, but I do have a definite favorite flavour: pistachio. I think I could eat it all the time too. I don’t think a person can get full on ice cream LOL.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
*kisses* HH
p.s. please stop by my blog and enter my giveaway for £50 or $75 worth of Amazon vouchers :D I’ve just unveiled my new blog and am doing a give away to celebrate :D
HH, my husband Tom’s favorite is pistachio. Which, now that I think about it, looks a lot like green tea ice cream. :)
Congratulations on the new blog!
OOOH Green tea Ice cream! how I love you so. Please get an ice cream maker and try out a few kinds then post the best. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to make my own. I can justify green tea ice cream, it is green tea after all!
Oh, trust me. I am absolutely posting a green tea recipe once I find one that I really like.
Hut, do you have a KitchenAid stand mixer? If so, I recommend the ice cream maker attachment for that. Much easier than having another separate contraption taking up space in your kitchen.
I love ice cream with chunks and swirls in it. There is one I love that has chunks of peanut butter cups and fudge swirl in peanut butter ice cream, I think it is called Moose Tracks or something like that.
Yes, I do have a KitchenAid mixer. If I remember correctly, it got great reviews at America’s Test Kitchen, too. How do you like yours? Is it noisy?
It just sounds the same as mixing anything else. It’s basically just a frozen bowl attachment with a special mixing paddle attachment. But it sounds like my reply may be too late after your tweet… ;-)
One of my favorites is Ginger Ice Cream (I get it at a local Thai restaurant). However I’ve seen Ginger Ice Cream in the local grocery store finally (by HD). I’d like an icecream maker. Do they make one that only makes a couple or two of ice cream?
Marilyn, ginger ice cream is gooood too. You know, I read a post somewhere (I think it was David Lebovitz) that had this chocolate ice cream recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker. Hmm … ice cream may be in my future this weekend after all.
i’ve eliminated dairy from my diet as well! my favorite is the ‘exotic’ mint chocolate chip, although red bean and matcha get first pick if they’re included in the selection. although living in utah i’d have to make them myself too, nowhere near a chinatown!
p.s. i’d elope with my cuisinart ice cream maker. i love it that much.
Ooh! I think the Cuisinart was the top pick at America’s Test Kitchen. But a few people said it was too noisy. Is that true?
As a kid, my fave flavor was Baskin Robbins’ chocolate chip. As an adult, I can’t say I have one favorite flavor. The trouble is that I like TOO many of them. Green tea is among them. Something about that sweet, earthy bitterness of the tea made silky and creamy in ice cream just is irresistible.
Chocolate has always been a favorite, and I like a really rich, almost dark chocolate flavor. I’m with you on liking just too many flavors. Which is probably why having an ice cream maker would be so dangerous around my house. :)
I’m not entirely sure I can pick a favorite ice cream flavor, as I can walk down the freezer section and say “ooh this is my favorite ice cream!” at least 5 times.
That being said, my top four are (in no particular order):
Coffee ice cream. especially Starbucks brand (because that’s all I’ve tried)
Butter pecan. from a place near my school (again, the only kind I’ve had)
Breyer’s Reese’s. mmmmmm
Cookies and Cream. gotta have a classic in there.
There is a frozen yogurt place near me and they have green tea frozen yogurt. I’ve meant to try it. Now I have more motivation.
Finally, I love your pictures :)
Aww. Thanks. Glad you like the pictures. It makes me feel better about lugging my camera everywhere. :)
Coffee ice cream, yum! I like the Trader Joe’s coffee ice cream. (Then again, it’s all I’ve tried too.)
Okay, that’s it. I think I’m marching right into Costco and buying the first ice cream maker I see. A girl can only take so much torture!
I’ve got an ice cream maker but I don’t have a recipe for green tea ice cream. I would love to have the recipe if anyone has one.
I found a recipe for you:
its for green tea ice cream. But I guess you just need the ice cream maker huh? Well here is the link anyways
http://iloveyoumorethanfood.com/ so when you get your ice cream maker you will have your recipe at hand.
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
Mint or Mint Chocolate Chunk (but only if the choc. chunks are good quality)
I am sensing a theme…Mint, green tea, pistachio, avacado…Green makes good ice cream!! LOL
Some friends got us an ice cream maker for our anniversary a couple years back. Its so fun to try new flavours!! I even made mint ice cream with mint I grew in my garden! I can’t find coconut ice cream around here either, maybe that’ll be the next to try. I seems like it would make a good pairing with hot desserts. Summer can’t come soon enough for me!! *drool*
Mmmmmmmm I tried an arroz con leche ice cream in Chihuahua,Mexico. It was delicious. The Green Tea ice cream sounds sooooo good too. Thanks again for sharing pictures for all to enjoy!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I just got a Cuisinart Ice Cream and Fro-Yo maker! MMMMMmmmmmmm!!! ($20 at TJMaxx. Do you see Reason #1 why I love it?)
I made some frozen yogurt earlier this week. Tried to get fancy. Tried to make it into thicker custard. Tried to add fruit. Screwed up totally. Result: “Meh.”
I bought more yogurt today. Used the following recipe: “Measure yogurt. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Process in machine. Eat.”
Reason #2 to love machine: SIMPLE IS BEST!!
OH MY GOSH, THIS IS GOOD!!! I know there will come a day when I make coconut flavored fro-yo! And you gotta get an ice cream maker!!
hey, i found you because one of your readers linked to my green tea ice cream recipe.
you can get an ice cream maker for about $25 on sale that works great. i have a simple cuisinart one that you can get on amazon, has about a 4 star rating, maybe a little higher. it’s worth the investment ifyou can find room to store it and it works great for sorbet too. i’ve discovered i’m really lactose intolerent as well after making that green tea ice cream with whole organic cream & half & half—so i’ll be making more sorbets in the future too.
i have a recipe for black sesame ice, too, if you’d like a copy. it’s not on the blog at this point.
I would love to have an ice cream maker.. but it’s just not in the cards yet. I’m already over crowding my kitchen pretty bad.
I love green tea ice cream. I’m reluctant to commit to one single favorite flavor of ice cream, but ONE of my favorites is basil ice cream. You don’t really find it all that often, I have never seen it anywhere but I’ve made it at home a couple times (the ghetto way – just melting some ice cream down and then re-freezes it.. leaves a little something to be desired). But the flavor is great! Make it just with a vanilla and lots of basil leaves. It’s a little bit like mint with vanilla but, of course, different. Give it a try sometime! It’s very refreshing.
That sounds awesome! I’ve never tried that before. I do remember a mention of basil ice cream with a hint of olive oil flavor in some morning show some time ago, and it intrigued me. Your vanilla-basil flavor would be perfect, especially since it’s getting warm enough to plant basil outside.
You forgot to mention duran flavored icecream. Westerners might run away from it, but I gobble it down every time I get a chance
I’m absolutely buying some fresh Bangkok durian on my next trip to the Asian supermarket so I can make durian ice cream.
Interestingly enough, now that you mentioned it, I suddenly remembered that some years back, I did purchase an ice cream maker. I got it for my dad, who grows his own fruit trees in the Philippines, and he uses it to make durian ice cream.
I just bought the Cuisinart Ice cream maker at Costco for $39.99 (It’s 459.99 at Williams Sonoma). Best purchase ever. period. Go buy one.
I agree! Definitely one of my best purchases of late.
Crystal, coconut ice cream is the best! You have to make some.
Becky, as soon as I get around to testing out a few recipes and find one I love, I’m definitely going to post it. No sense in me hogging all the calories. :)
Monica, arroz con leche sounds awesome. Kinda like rice pudding ice cream? I’m intrigued.
Marti, fro-yo is in my immediate future, too. I’m especially eager to try it because I make my own yogurt. I may have to make just a pint at a time of all these flavors I want to try. Or get new stretchy pants.
Caroline, the black sesame ice cream sounds right up my alley. I, too, am lactose intolerant. But I tell myself that if I ignore it, it’ll forget to bother me. Sometimes, love for food trumps fear of pain. Okay, maybe more than sometimes in my case. :)
Thanks for the reply! Yes it was kind of like rice pudding Mmmmmmm,one of the friends here makes delicious rice pudding! I just thought about horchata ice cream, I think that would be similar, a lot of the same ingredients. Haha
I love making my own ice cream and sorbets – still doing lots of experimenting. I got a really cheap ice cream maker to begin with because I wasn’t sure how successful my efforts would be. It works brilliantly, so once it dies I will definitely upgrade to a better model. I love green tea ice cream too, and am really keen to try making my own, but haven’t found any green tea powder here yet. I need to elevate my search.
Sue
I just found this post from My Baking Addiction. Your story has touched me. I can’t imagine what it was like to go through all that. You and your family are in my prayers!